Poof Isn't Pregnant

 Poof is not pregnant.   Ha!  I knew Poof would be a boy.

I went and trapped him quickly anyhow, just in case when the residential lady, one of the folks who feeds him, told me "she" is pregnant.  These are folks who cannot describe a cat's color even, for the life of them.   Her adult son walks their dog routinely in the park, sometimes followed by a couple of cats.

They love animals.  But they don't actually ever help getting cats who show up at their place fixed.   We're talking three or four adults there, none of whom will lift a finger when one needs caught to be fixed.

So I prefer trapping them by myself in the park.  But now there's the parking fee, so unless I pay out, I can't.  People pull into the parking lot just across the dike trail from them and dump their cats.  Sometimes dogs too.  By the score.

Many people who move to this county are shocked by the number of stray cats and dogs.   

Poof was covered in fleas, poor fellow.  But they're dead and dying now.

The tech at Rad offered to take him over to the clinic yesterday with her.   I'd put out a plea.   I had to be in Salem with Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail at 8:30 a.m.  I couldn't do the Corvallis 7:15 check in too, for Poof.  They were the three trailer park cats I was holding for barn cat placement.   I ended up taking Poof up to the tech in Lebanon and putting him in her chicken/hay shed for the night.  She wasn't home yet.  She took him in to the clinic with her yesterday morning.

So he's had an experience!

The hand off went fine except Flopsy and Mospy, who are very bonded, (the two blacks) were in the same small carrier and one of them pooped on the drive up to Salem.   The SCR lady is always prepared for such incidents though.  She had extra carriers along.

The rest of the day I spent catching up.  I had to vacuum out the back of the dryer and its vent, to increase efficiency, which had decreased.   I need to switch from towel cage covers, that take forever to dry and increase the already expensive electric bill, to fleece.  Right now cheap fleece blankees are on sale at Walmart for under $4 each.  I need to make this switch now.  I struggled to pay the electric bill.  It was high from running a space heater in the garage during the freezing weather to keep group after group of trailer park cats warm as they awaited barn homes.  And from trying to dry the darn cage covers.  Towels take too long to dry.  The door switch on the washer is also going haywire.  I watched youtube videos on how to bypass it, so if it gets much worse, I'll do that.  The door switch lets the washer start when I close  the door and stops it if I open the door.   

I finally had time to repair my old cheap aluminum fold up cart.  I use it to bring heavy items in from the car or even from the store to the car.   It's super light weight.  I've had it a very long time.   One wheel, held by two plastic brackets, broke a few years ago and I was able to glue it together, since it broke only on one side and then reinforce that with a metal hardware piece, glued and screwed across the broken area.  That has held well.   But this time, the other wheel broke off completely.

I had a 360 castor and decided to use that even though it is smaller than the other wheel.   I used pipe brackets and screws to hold it in place.  And since its a 360 wheel, used long enough screws to run them down the outside and inside of the wheel hardware to keep so it wouldn't spin sideways.

Eventually I'll get a new hand truck, but when I do, I'll get one with bigger wheels and that can also be used as a pull cart sturdy enough to pull traps with cats in them.     I'm really broke right now.  The electric bill was a killer.  I hope cleaning out the dryer and vents of lint, no more space heater in the garage since the cold weather broke and no trailer park cats to hold right now, plus switching to fleece cage covers, will help in months to come.

Long screws down the sides of the wheel hardware keep it from spinning.  I use what I have.  Might not look great but it works and will keep the hand truck usable until I can get another.

Broken off wheel out front.  The bottom of the hand truck is all corroded but its been around a long time and has a right to show some age.

I loaned a couple of traps out to a farmer who will catch his own two barn cats and has an appointment for them himself.  One of my drop traps is now in Sweet Home with a lady trying to catch the last cat in her colony.  

I probably now loan out traps to people catching their own more than use them myself.  Well maybe not more.  But it does almost double the cats that can be helped.

Today I will clean my car and that's about it.   I'm not taking Poof back til tomorrow.  I want to be sure he's not tame.   He's set up in the holding cage.  I cleaned it yesterday after the three that had been in it left.  He's not acting tame so far at all.